Slight off-topic to start with... I'm in-between PES & FIFA now, for the first time since release. I've largely been a fan of what FIFA did this year, but the patches have gradually returned it to arcade heaven, and after trying to go back to it last night, I really struggled to enjoy it (I've got used to PES being "stiff", and players not doing the rumba around the pitch in every situation, so it was a big shock going back to it and feeling like the players were made of jelly).
(Back on-topic...) In my Championship campaign (as Bolton), I was put against Reading in the FA Cup. I'm finding Championship teams either counter, or keep possession, without much of an in-between, and Reading were constantly on the counter. I bought a guy from CD Palestino (there was a great article in FourFourTwo about the club a few months ago) - a strong target man called Gutiérrez, to replace the ageing Heskey and team-up with a younger, faster striker, Clough - and this was his first game.
(It's finding those bargain-buys and learning about players you otherwise would never have heard of that I really love about PES, and given the lack of licenses in the game, it amazes me how they continue to outshine FIFA in that department.)
I couldn't keep out their counter-attacking with my elderly defenders (a real problem that I couldn't fix before the transfer window shut), and they scored after ten minutes. I switched from possession play to try and counter, pushing the wingers up a bit, managed to get the ball through to Clough (who was only just onside) and score an equaliser.
(Another thing you can't do in FIFA at the moment, though it looks like they're improving on it for the new version - you never see a through-ball beat a defence and leave a striker on his own to finish, because the defence is so perfect that the line never breaks, so it's really satisfying to get a real one-on-one.)
The second half was a real back-and-forther, attack after attack - the ball was never really in the midfield - but with a deeper line and a bit of luck, I kept it to 1-1, until the 80th minute. A cross flew into the box, and there was Gutiérrez, who - after missing a string of chances, hitting them all wide of the post - got his head onto it, and headed it down and just beyond the keeper, into the net.
(The header actually went into a different direction than the one I'd pressed - I find that happens with the non-manual shots fairly regularly, which is really frustrating, because if you miss then you shout "I didn't fucking press that way you cheat", but if you score, then it wasn't really your goal because you didn't press the stick that way. But, a goal's a goal!)
Next up was a league game against Charlton, who played a solid possession game, but one of my defensive midfielders (Spearing) hit a Gerrard-style daisy-cutter out of nowhere (it was a shot I'd hit in desperation, a manual shot too, from about 35 yards out), that flew into the corner. That one goal ended up winning the game.
(The more time I spend on the game, the more I appreciate what it does right - but man, the lag you get sometimes when you're trying to pass or shoot just infuriates me, especially when the game is praised for being "responsive and fluid". It's so far from responsive, in my opinion, especially when you've got a defender near you and the game is either A) struggling to process your command and the defender's positioning/action, or B) straight-up cheating you to make sure you don't win too easily.)